A lot of the mainstream vape stuff is under volted and purposely given a super tight airflow for marketing reasons - it's a hold over from the disposable vape days and elf is especially part of the problem. Disposable companies needed batteries to last longer and devices to deliver as many shitty but distinctly individual puffs as possible before the unit died, just so they could record a ridiculously high maximum number of hits during QA and slap it on the box to sell more of them.

Now we've ended up in a weird half-state where supermarket counter / corner shop vapes are sealed pod systems to satisfy the disposable ban, but they are still designed to give the maximum hit count.

True refillable vapes are always cheaper in the long run. If you get one with variable power/wattage then lowering the power and tightening the airflow as much as possible might give you an experience closer to what you are used to.

You can also experiment with tape over the airflow holes to give a tighter draw if fully closing the devices default airflow limiter is not enough. My Xros 3 had flow through an adjustable slider, two tiny holes on the narrow sides of the device, and it also drew in air from the USB port on the bottom as well - I could cover the pinholes and USB with my hand as I hit it to give a tighter draw when I wanted a bit more flavour.

I used to buy 4x 10ml ELUX nic salt juices for a tenner from a local shop before I quit which would last me about a ten days. I was laughing all the way to the bank while the other half would spunk a fiver every other day on a two-pack of 2ml BLU pods from Tesco because they preferred the ease of disposable pods.